Governor Brown’s signature on a bill regulating hydraulic fracturing upset just about everyone. Industry said it imposed harsh requirements on them and would hurt the economy. Environmentalists said last-minute changes appeased industry and put the state’s water and air quality at risk. The state is now poised to move toward a burst of new energy exploration and extraction of the Monterey Shale formation across much of the coast and Central Valley.

California could be on the verge of a huge energy boom. What will that mean to the state’s economy and water supply? Is natural gas a bridge to a cleaner future, or a bridge to nowhere?